Looking at my next project ( probably about a 30'cruiser) and starting to collect wood. A friend who is an arborist can get me plenty of white oak and southern pine. All virgin growth, these are trees he is taking out. He can drop 20 to 25' logs at my shop. Are there any problems with the pine I need to look for? Are there any Other trees in the southeast coastal area I should look for? (Charleston SC) Also how long can the logs sit before I mill them. It will take probably a year to gather enough trunks.

Thanks
Rick Tuk

Greg H

03-05-2002, 08:14 AM

Have the arborist look out for Live Oak, Walnut, Locust (black or honey), American Hornbeam (iron wood), Am. Holly, Red cedar, White cedar, Old growth cypress, Osage Orange. There is more, but thats all I can think of off the top of my head.
I don't know on the Milling.
-----G

ahp

03-05-2002, 08:39 AM

Rick,

I suggest you look into the durability of the various kinds of "Southern Pine". Here in SE Georgia there is Longleaf, Slash, Pitch and perhaps others. I have a feeling they are not all equally desirable, but perhaps hard to tell appart.

There is also a sawmill not far away.

Art

Tim B

03-05-2002, 08:47 AM

In a past post I read that the ends of the logs should be painted. The exposed wood at the ends will lose moisture much quicker than through the bark. This results in checks. With the ends painted, they don't dry out as quickly, reducing the amount of checking.

Bruce Hooke

03-05-2002, 10:30 AM

Tim is right that you need to paint the ends of the logs, preferably within a few hours of when they are cut, especially if the weather is hot. The checking will start very quickly and once checks start to form they are much harder to keep from growing than if you keep them from ever starting. The paint should be something that is good at stopping moisture movement. I've heard of people using everything from wax to aluminium paint. I even used up some very old epoxy this way at one point.

Tom Lathrop

03-05-2002, 01:05 PM

Major issue with any pine logs is blue stain. The logs need to be debarked as soon as possible after felling to stop beetle infestation. I'd get some advice from a pro on this.

It's easy to tell long leaf pine in the forrest. The needles are much longer than other pines and the cones are HUGE. There will be almost no understory in a longleaf forrest. Virgin longleaf is getting very rare. If you get some, it will have a lot of heartwood and be fine boatbuilding material. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 wiped out much of the forrest around Charleston.

[ 03-05-2002, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Tom Lathrop ]

wolfietuk

03-06-2002, 05:00 AM

Thanks for the information. We do not have the locusts, or hornbeam locally in any great number. black walnut is available, I wasnt sure of its rot resistance. I am also looking at some live oaks but locals protect these if they are of any size. And no Hugo didnt do as much damage as many think. We lost a lot of good trees. My dad lost over 10 pines that were 80+ feer long some as much as 3' diameter. I have three in my yard I am going to remove soon 24-30" in diameter with 40+ foot of straight trunk before the branches start. I am setting up a mill myself at my cabinet shop.

Rick

Tom Lathrop

03-06-2002, 09:01 AM

Rick,

I see that my good friend Mark Bayne has moved Sea Island Boatworks from Shem Creek to a big warehouse on the old Navy base where they will have lots more room for building larger boats.

Are you involved with the "Spirit of SC"? They were unable to find adequate old growth long leaf heart pine locally for the keel and brought in huge baulks of angelique from Surinam. It was hauled from South America on the deck of a sailing ship though, so that makes it better.

wolfietuk

03-08-2002, 04:55 AM

Tom
It was a sad day when Mark moved. My house is a couple of miles from his old shop on Shem creek.
He sold me the Ply for my boat and offered a lot of advice. A true gentleman. I am wanting to get involved with the spirit project. I do not have the kind of money to be a large contributer, but I hope I can be of assistance at some time. Ive got a few shirts and hats. The lumber could have been garnered locally, I believe, but it would have taken a long time and a lot of money. Luckly my labor is free and a friend in the buisness helps.

Rick

Charles Burgess

08-03-2006, 10:31 PM

Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) was traditionally used for hull and deck planking in its native areas...unsurpassed for longevity and nearly as tough as oak. I have used some heartwood for solid keels and deadwood as well. I would still use live oak for trunnels.

Thad

08-04-2006, 05:06 AM

For White pine, borers in the bark attack logs in warm weather. Debarking or sawing is necessary. Is this true for longleaf too?

Bob Smalser

08-04-2006, 08:21 AM

For White pine, borers in the bark attack logs in warm weather. Debarking or sawing is necessary. Is this true for longleaf too?

True for any wood. Mill it, pond it in water, or debark it before the beetles attack.

But most beetles just attack the sapwood, which isn't gonna see use in a boat anyway, so I leave a few Doug Fir logs stacked in case I need some srock I didn't anticipate. The underside of the bark on those is purple and slimy from beetle damage, and I lose the first inch of heartwood.

Same for SYP - only the heartwood is suitable for boats and some species of it don't produce any heartwood at all for the tree's first 20 years, so be sure of what you're buying.